Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Well Met

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Well Met by Jen DeLuca

28 reviews

beth_s98's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really, really enjoyed this one! I loved the setting and the care given to the description of the Faire. The characters were strong, and I felt as though the growth was reasonable. There are some spicy scenes, but not over-the-top and they felt very realistic.

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markedwithanm's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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mabellene's review

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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bibliomania_express's review

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4.0

Well Met by Jen DeLuca is a fun Renaissance Faire-themed romance between an English teacher with a piratey side and a woman looking for roots. I really liked Emily and Simon and how their relationship develops as the summer progresses. They're a bit grumpy/sass (I wouldn't call Emily sunshiney, but the vibes work). We're filtered through Emily's POV, so there's some ways she misunderstands Simon, but it works.

I loved so much that this book cuts off its potential misunderstandings by having characters actually talk to each other. Quite a few things were fairly obvious, and I appreciated that characters actually discovered those things by confronting assumptions.

For all this book is lighthearted and fun, it does deal with some serious topics. Content warnings for grief and death of a sibling, car accident, and toxic relationship (all in the past, not on page). I think all these issues were handled with care, especially the death of Simon's brother, which is the most central to the story.

I enjoyed Emily and Simon's banter, the relationships Emily builds with Stacey, Mitch, and Chris, as well as the sister relationship between Emily and April. I know this is the first in a series, so I'm excited to read the next one and see more of the characters.

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bexi's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

The heroine was kind of dense. The hero was a butthead. They both needed therapy.

Also,

WOOING SHOULD TAKE MORE THAN ONE DAY! ✋️😭

But it was cute, I guess?? It kept me entertained 🤷‍♀️

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booksandbabble's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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jg34's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

It was cute and cheesy but a tolerable amount of cheese.

I could see how all Emily’s second guessing and over complicating things would be annoying but I kind of related. Simon’s extreme grumpiness was over the top and the change from grumpy to lovey was not gradual at all but

overall it was a nice story and an easy read

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Thank you, Michael Joseph Penguin Publishing, for sending this book to rate on the spice-o-meter and to write an honest review.

This book is based on Emily who has moved to the small Maryland town of Willow Creek for the summer to help her sister recover from an accident. But when her teenage niece Caitlin volunteers for the local Renaissance Faire, Emily’s suddenly signing up too as a . . . tavern wench. She’s not sure how it happened, but it’s certainly to do with Simon, the infuriating and inscrutable schoolteacher running the show. The Faire is Simon’s family legacy, and he doesn’t have time for Emily’s jokey approach, her take on Shakespeare, or her suggestions to liven things up. Yet as the Faire comes together and each inhabits their costumes roles, he becomes a different person. Is irritation turning to flirtation? Soon, Emily’s asking herself: is there mutual attraction real, or just the roles they’re playing?

Sometimes I love when you can relate to a character and other times I hate when you relate to a character. Emily is this character to me. I love the fact that she is all over the place and doesn’t know what to do with her life. She was also made to feel worthless about her ex-boyfriend and is also doubting her skills and confident and I also relate to that, and it felt like she was in my brain. I love that Jen DeLuca managed to make a male MC with problems that are real problems like grief and pressure and the small-town problems such as only being known as someone’s brothers or someone’s best mate. The storyline was cute, and I liked the idea of the Faire and how everyone particates. I have a soft spot for enemies-to-lovers in a small town, it just makes it 1000% times better when everyone knows they have feels for it each other except them. I loved the family aspect of this book with Simon having no one and Emily having a weird and wacky relationship with her sister and niece.

In terms of Spice-O-Meter, I thought it was spicy, you don’t get the spice until chapter 15 or 16. With this being a slow burn, I expect that, but I would have loved more spice once it finally happened. The spice that we do get I would say is a 4/10 but I enjoyed it and it fit with the storyline and these characters. Personally, I love dual POVs which would have made this book better, I would have loved to have heard Simon’s thoughts when he was shutting Emily down in the first couple of chapters because all we saw was Emily’s POV and her opinion was that he was an asshole who was looking down at her for being a dropout.

Whilst writing this, I've noticed that there are more books in this series, so I'm excited to see how this will carry on and if Mitch doesn’t get his own book, I will riot.

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daisy2050's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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wilybooklover's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

3.0

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